


Damaged

by tristen84



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, DaddyBats, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-06
Updated: 2015-10-29
Packaged: 2018-04-08 00:26:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4283676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tristen84/pseuds/tristen84
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Robin has to deal with the consequences of a team mission gone wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A very special thank you to the wonderful Black Friar for the excellent beta!
> 
> This part takes place before Artemis joins the team.
> 
> Warning for sexual assault on a minor.

_Breathe…can't- why- can't…breathe..?_

Dick fought his way to consciousness, struggling to make his chest expand so he could take a proper breath. He was lying on his back and…something was on top of him and it was- moving. Something solid and warm and _heavy_ , crushing his chest and pinning his legs to the cold floor beneath him. He instinctively tried to push whatever it was off of him, but when he attempted to move his arms his shoulders screamed at him and something bit into his wrists.

His hands were restrained above his head.

What the hell?

Something soft and wet dragged across his neck, his jaw, his lips, immediately followed by something coarse that rubbed against his skin and left it feeling burned. He turned his head away but the uncomfortable sensations followed him. When he opened his eyes it was to blackness, making his breath catch until he realized he was blindfolded.

What the hell was going on? He remembered being on a mission with the team and the familiar feel of his mask told him he was Robin right now so… Had he gotten himself captured? Because that would so _not_ be cool and-

"Christ, you're so fucking pretty."

Startled, Robin jerked his head to the side, away from the hot breath muttering against his ear. The blood drained from his face and his heart thudded in his chest –

There was a guy on top of him! And he was- he was-

"S-stop!" Robin exclaimed, grateful that at least he wasn't gagged.  "Get off me!"

A rough, calloused hand was clamped over his mouth.

"Shut up," the man growled. "If you make the boss come in here I'll kill you." 

The man's lips brushed against the shell of his ear and Robin shuddered with revulsion. He tried to twist away, but the man's full weight was on his chest, trapping him. A finger forced itself past his lips and Robin bit down. Hard.

"OW! You fucking little bitch!"

The man snatched his hand back but before Robin had a chance to yell his cheek exploded with pain, his head snapping to the side. Another blow struck his temple and stars erupted behind his closed eyelids.

"Enough foreplay," the man muttered against his ear, once more covering Robin's mouth with his hand. "I'm going to make you bleed, bitch."

"-should be doing this? He's just a kid."

Robin jerked at the sound of a new voice. There was more than one guy?!

"He's a vigilante," the man on top of him snapped. "If he's old enough to fight crime, he's damn well old enough to get fucked. Now shut up and watch the door."

The words rang in his ears and Robin's panic skyrocketed. He renewed his struggles, bucking and twisting and kicking with all his might, trying desperately to dislodge his assailant. The man grunted and swore when Robin's knee connected with something. The heavy weight shifted from his chest to his legs, immobilizing them completely and making Robin groan in frustration.

"Fuck, forget the door," the man above him hissed to whoever else was with them. "Help me hold him down!"

"But-"

"Myron, I swear to god, if you don't shut the fuck up and help me, I'll tell the boss about your little escapades with _his fucking daughter_ and he'll put a bullet in your face before you can even think about beggin' for mercy!"

"Jesus Christ, _all right_!"

Robin heard the other guy approach and he twisted and writhed but couldn't prevent his ankles from being seized. The man's weight shifted again as he straddled Robin's waist. The hand covering his mouth was pressing down hard enough to bruise, his teeth cutting up the inside of his lips.

The pressure let up suddenly but when Robin opened his mouth to call out, something soft and wet was thrust inside and all that came out was a muffled whimper. Before he'd gathered the wits to bite down, the tongue was gone and the hand was slapped across his mouth once more. The taste of the man's saliva made him gag.

Desperate, he tried to pull his ankles from the other man's grasp, but the guy held firm. Something tore at the front of his uniform with such force that after a few seconds Robin heard a ripping sound and felt something give. The next thing he knew a cold hand was roaming his chest, trailed by something wet.

Goosebumps crawled all over his body, his stomach rolled, and he yanked on his restraints as hard as he could. His attacker responded by scraping his teeth along the skin of his stomach and Robin cried out in pain when the guy bit down and sucked. Bile spilled into Robin's throat, threatening to choke him, and he swallowed it down desperately.

"Spread his legs," the man ordered breathlessly, and Robin screamed into the hand that still covered his mouth.

_Stop it! STOP!_

No matter how hard he tried to prevent it, his legs were forced apart and he felt the man settle between them. He yelped when a hand suddenly fondled him through his tights and he instinctively tried to close his legs, but the grip on his ankles was too strong and then something hard was pressing against his thigh and-

Oh god, _oh god_. No, no, no, no, no, no, no… Not happening. _Not_ _happening!_

The crushing weight on his chest returned as the man lay down on top of him once more and he was suffocating, his panic making his lungs scream for oxygen but his body unable to draw in enough air through his nostrils.

His head hurt and his heart was roaring in his ears. Darkness crept into the edges of his vision.

_Don't black out! Don't black out! Fight, Grayson, you have to fight!_

But his brain was being starved of oxygen; it was getting harder to think straight and he knew his struggles were weakening. All his mind was able to latch onto was the fear and horror and utter helplessness that was beginning to paralyze his limbs.

There was a distant crash, but he was barely aware of it. His mind was being overwhelmed by the unwanted touches, the hot, rancid breath, the hand that was shoving down his tights, the-

 "--the hell-? Oh _god_! _GET OFF OF HIM!_ "

Between one breath and the next, the crushing, suffocating weight on his chest was gone and so was the bruising pressure on his lips. His ankles were suddenly released.

Someone somewhere was shouting, there was gunfire and he heard things crash and break, and then more yelling but he was too busy trying to suck in a proper breath to be able to make sense of it.

Suddenly, hands were on him again and he at least knew _that_ was bad so he struggled, trying to get those hands off of him, to get away, _anything_ , but the fingers only tightened around his arms.

_"GET OFF ME!"_

The hands let go of him instantly. "Dude! Rob! Robin, it's okay, it's okay! It's me, it's Wal- Kid Flash!"

Something brushed against his cheek and he jerked his head away, but then the blindfold was removed and Robin was looking up into a pair of wide green eyes.

Wally. Wally was here.

And- judging by the crashing sounds around them the team was also here, which meant- which meant he was safe.

"Rob, dude, you okay?" Wally asked. "Hang on, I'll get you loose in a sec, I'm just gonna- uh…pull up- pull up your tights and stuff, okay?"

Oh god. Oh _god_. He was totally exposed, and the team was _right there_. Heat crept into his face.

As Wally reached down, Robin was able to see past his friend's shoulder and he caught a glimpse of M'gann. Innocent, gentle M'gann, her eyes ablaze, expression fierce, as she ruthlessly slammed someone into a wall.

Robin flinched as Wally tugged on his tights and pulled them over his hips, and tried very, very hard not to freak out at the touches and his friend's close proximity. _Keep it together. It's just Wally. You're fine._

It took Wally several tries but when he finally managed to undo the restraints around Robin's wrists,  Robin immediately struggled to sit up, breathing hard.

"Kid, is Robin all right?" Aqualad called out from somewhere, but Robin was too busy trying to get his breathing under control to look over.

"Not sure," he heard Wally say. "I think he's freaking out."

Robin scowled. He was _not_ freaking out – and opened his mouth to say so, to tell them he was fine,  but he somehow couldn't make his lips form the words.

"Get him to the bioship," Aqualad directed. "Look after him, we will be there soon."

Wally  turned back to face him. "Rob? Dude, you with me? Can you stand?"

Still breathing hard, Robin nodded, getting to his feet. As soon as he was upright, however, the world  tilted dangerously and his legs gave out. Wally caught him by the arm before he ended up on his rear, but the physical contact made his whole body tense up. He tried to make himself relax – _it's just Wally, stop freaking out!_ – but it was hard and he didn't understand why his legs wouldn't work.

"Dude, what's wrong?"

"Dizzy," was all Robin managed to say.

"Okay, no prob, dude, I'll just give you a lift to the bioship. I'm just gonna uh…pick you up now, alright?"

Wally's arm slipping behind his knees made Robin tense up all over again, which Wally apparently noticed because he froze suddenly and said, "Uh…you're not gonna ninja-kick me in the teeth or anything, are you? It's just me, okay, dude? I'm not gonna hurt you."

Wally was speaking to him as if he was a wounded animal about to lash out and it made Robin want to roll his eyes, until he realized the comparison probably wasn't too far off the mark. He didn't really feel in control of anything right now, so he just kept silent and nodded.

The world became a blur and the wind tore at him but the bioship's small medical bay materialized around him before he could even count to five. He stumbled a little as Wally set him down on his feet but pulled away when his friend reached for him.

"I'm fine."

"Yeah, of course you are."

Robin glanced up, surprised at the sarcasm in his friend's voice but looked away quickly when he saw the sympathy in Wally's eyes. With trembling hands he tried to pull the tattered remains of his tunic closer around him, only realizing now that his cape was missing. At least his legs seemed to be working now, and the world wasn't spinning as badly as before.

"Dude, you're shaking. Sit down, okay?"

Without looking at Wally, he gingerly lifted himself onto the examination table and sat there, trying not to think about what had just happened. About what had almost happened. He reached up to wipe at his mouth.

"Jeez, your wrists are a mess."

Robin looked down at his wrists and blinked at the blood and the deep, angry gouges he found there. He'd been so desperate to get away from- those men, he hadn't even felt the restraints cutting into his flesh.

Wally grabbed the first-aid kit and Robin hissed as antiseptic was pressed against the wounds on his right wrist.

"Sorry," Wally said, but Robin wasn't really paying attention. He actually kind of welcomed the stinging pain because it diverted his thoughts away from- from- he _wasn't_ going to think about that.

They were silent for a while as Wally dabbed at his wrists and Robin concentrated on keeping his mind from wandering.

"Dude, what- what happened?" Wally asked finally, his tone uncharacteristically hesitant. "I mean, how did they…uh…grab you?"

"I- don't know," Robin answered, because he really didn't. The last thing he remembered was hooking up his wrist computer to an old desktop. His head ached so they might've hit him over the head or something but he doubted they would've been able to sneak up on him. Maybe they'd shot him with something from a distance? Like with a drug-laced dart, or a bean bag, or-?

Wally cleared his throat, pulling Robin's attention back to the present. "Hey, Rob?" Wally started, pausing in the middle of bandaging Robin's left wrist, and Robin braced himself for what he knew Wally wanted to ask. "Did he- I mean, those guys- did they…hurt you? Okay, dumb question, of _course_ they hurt you, but I mean- did- did they-"

"No," Robin interrupted. "They- he didn't- didn't do- that."

Wally breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank. God. Rob, I'm so sorry we didn't get there sooner, but Supey-"

And then Wally launched into some long-winded explanation and Robin found his mind drifting back to- something he didn't want to think about. He didn’t want to think about the hands touching him, but he could _feel_ them, feel the fingernails scraping across his skin, the tongue in his mouth, the-

"Uh…bioship to Rob."

A hand was suddenly waving in his face and he snapped back to the here and now with a start. "W-what?"

"Dude, you weren't even listening, were you?"

"Sorry."

Wally looked at him, green eyes serious. "No, Robin, _I'm_ sorry. I'm sorry we let them get their paws on you. We should've- we should've had your back."

Robin studied his knees. "No," he said, "it wasn't-"

The bioship's cargobay door opened suddenly and he launched himself off the examination table, shifting into a defensive stance as soon as his feet hit the floor, Wally already moving in front of him to intercept.

When Aqualad's tall form appeared, flanked by a floating M'gann, Robin's knees almost grew weak with relief. 

"Jeez! You could've knocked or something!" Wally exclaimed, relaxing his stance and placing a dramatic hand over his heart. "You scared the crap out of us."

"Apologies," Aqualad said as he passed Wally, his gaze falling on Robin. "Are you all right?"

The concern in the pale blue eyes stirred uncomfortable memories and he quickly looked away, automatically trying to pull his ruined tunic closed. "Fine," he mumbled.

Aqualad didn't push, and Robin was grateful. He let Wally finish wrapping his wrists and accepted the icepack he was given for his cheek. He started when something was draped over his shoulders – _jeez, Grayson, get a grip already!_ – and glanced up at M'gann's gentle smile. The sympathy she was radiating made his stomach churn but he forced a weak smile in return and thanked her for the blanket.

As he made his way to his seat, he wrapped the blanket tightly around himself, realizing for the first time he was _still_ shaking. He waited for the seat to strap him in before drawing his legs to his chest and wrapping his arms around them, clinging to the blanket. Superboy was staring at him, he knew, but he resolutely turned his own gaze to the window, watching the world shrink as the bioship rose into the air.

He wished he'd just stayed with the team. None of this would've happened if he hadn't gone off on his own like that. What had he been _thinking_? He _wasn't_ Batman. He _couldn't_ do all the things his mentor could. This is what he got for being cocky. What happened- what that guy did…was his own damn fault. And as grateful as he was that the team had come for him before things had really gotten out of hand, he wished they hadn't seen him like that.

Exposed, vulnerable…helpless.

Bile burned the back of his throat and he swallowed it back down with difficulty.

"I'm-" He stopped and cleared his throat before trying again. "I'm sorry."

There was a pause.

"Why are _you_ sorry?" Superboy demanded, and Robin flinched at the unexpected vehemence in his voice.

"Jeez, Supey, you wanna dial it down a little?" Wally said, frowning at Superboy.

"Why?" Superboy demanded. "What those men were doing to Robin was _wrong!_ Why would anyone do that? It was perverted and-"

"And can we not talk about- that?" Robin interrupted, feeling his cheeks start to burn again. He did _not_ want to be reminded of what that guy had been doing to him, especially not with his friends _right there_. He fought the sudden urge to wipe his mouth again. "I just meant- I'm sorry you guys had to come save my butt, and…and had to see- that."

"Robin, you do not need to apologize," Aqualad said. "We are a team and as such we look out for one another. However, going off on your own without telling us where you were going _was_ dangerous and reckless. Your capture might have been prevented had you informed us of your position."

Robin pulled his blanket up to his chin, knowing that Aqualad was right. _I guess I deserved what I got._ "Listen, uh..." he started. "Could you- could you not mention this to anyone?"

Silence. Robin looked over to see his team mates exchange shocked glances.

"I mean, just the- the assault part," he added quickly. "Just- just tell Red I was strapped to a chair or- or something when you found me, okay?"

"Rob, you _know_ Bats will find out what really happened," Wally said.

"I know, I just- I want to tell him on my own terms, okay? When- when I'm ready."

His team mates glanced at each other once more and Robin wondered if they were communicating in some kind of telepathic group chat he hadn't been invited to. The thought stung a little.

"Fine," Superboy said finally, arms folded across his chest and looking extremely displeased. Not that that was unusual. Wally and M'gann looked to Aqualad, who nodded. "Very well."

Robin smiled at them, hoping it conveyed at least some of his gratitude. "Thanks, guys. I promise I'll- I'll tell Batman soon."

Most of the rest of the flight was spent in silence, which was unusual. Even Wally was quiet. Robin didn't blame him. He supposed that what had happened today had made an impression on all of them.

After the bioship had docked at Mount Justice, Robin managed to sneak out of the hangar and slip into his quarters, where he took a quick shower and changed into civvies before he was due to report to Red Tornado for the debrief. He stuffed his ruined uniform in the trash, trying not to dwell on what happened to it, and stopped by the medbay to get his wrists checked out and redressed before meeting up with his team in the briefing room.

The debrief took longer than Robin was comfortable with, but his teammates kept their word and didn't mention anything about the assault. He thanked his lucky stars that Batman wasn't here to do the debrief; he would've known they were hiding something even before they opened their mouths and probably would've gotten the full story out of them in seconds.

He knew he owed his team and would have to make it up to them big time, but right now all he wanted to do was go home and hide for the rest of the week- maybe even for the rest of the year. It felt like a chunk of lead had settled in his stomach, and he was cold- freezing almost. Like the lead had somehow become liquid and was piercing his veins to spread its poison throughout his body.

Wally stopped him on his way to the zeta tube with a hand on his shoulder.

"Dude, is uh…B. back from his business trip yet?"

"No," Robin replied, gritting his teeth against the urge to shake off Wally's hand. "Not until tomorrow."

"Okay. So uh…" Wally hesitated, removing his hand from Robin's shoulder to rub the back of his neck, "do you- do you want me to stay over? We could play some video games and stuff if you want? 'Cause tomorrow's Sunday so I can just call mom and let her know-"

"No. No, that's okay," Robin cut in. "Thanks, Wally, I appreciate it, I just- I kind of want to be by myself right now."

"You sure?"

The concern on Wally's face almost made him squirm. "Yeah. Thanks though." He managed to muster up a smile for his friend and give him a small wave before hurrying to the zeta tube to avoid bumping into anyone else.

When he arrived at the Batcave he was relieved to find Alfred wasn't there. But his relief was short-lived; he'd barely taken two steps before he realized he was shaking again. The cold slowly taking over his body was getting worse and his skin was starting to prickle, his chest suddenly feeling tight. He threw a quick glance at the staircase to make sure Alfred wasn't coming down to greet him and trotted over to the showers.

The water scalded his skin when he stepped into the stall and he paused for a moment, watching his reddening skin swallow up the scratches, bruises and…other marks on his legs and torso. He reached for the shower gel and started scrubbing, ignoring the stinging pain. His quick shower at Mount Justice hadn't been enough to eliminate the lingering feel and smell of- of what that guy had been doing to him.

He opened his mouth and tilted his head back to let the water inside, hoping it would rid him of the horrible taste of the man's saliva that still clung to his teeth and gums. It burned a little, but it felt good, cleansing- until some of the water went down the wrong way and he choked and suddenly he found himself on his hands and knees on the shower floor, gagging as memories of roaming, bruising hands assaulted him.

He didn't know how long he stayed that way, gasping for air while he dry-heaved before he finally managed to employ one of Bruce's breathing techniques and was able to calm himself down enough to be able to think somewhat clearly again. He picked himself up off the tiled floor slowly, knees shaking, and turned off the shower, hating the way his hand trembled.

A polite knock on the dressing room door made him jump.

"Master Dick?"

Crap. Alfred.

"Master Dick, is everything alright?"

"Uh…yeah. Yeah, fine. I'll- I'll be out in a sec."

He dried off quickly, stepped out of the shower and pulled on a clean pair of jeans and a sweater, all the while berating himself for being so pathetic. A panic attack in the shower…god, what would Bruce think of him? He'd be so disappointed.

Dick tucked his hands into the sleeves of his sweater so Alfred wouldn't see the bandages around his wrists. There wasn't anything he could do to hide the bruises on his face, but they didn't tell a story like the wounds on his wrists did, and he'd come back with worse. Maybe Alfred wouldn't pay too much attention to them.

Right.

Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and stepped outside. "Hey Alfred," he greeted, with a smile that he hoped was bright enough.

"Good evening, young sir," Alfred said. He was standing just outside the door, holding a plate with healthy snacks in one hand and a glass of juice in the other. "How was your mission?"

"Uh…yeah, it was totally asterous. I mean, we got what we came for and the baddies were picked up by the local police, so, you know. Mission accomplished."

"Hm-mm? I'm glad to hear it. And may I ask how you acquired those bruises, sir?"

"Yeah, uh…there was this huge guy that came out of nowhere and got in a few lucky hits." Whoa, okay, lying to Alfred was _hard_. "Anyway, they're just minor bruises, so it's fine. I'm fine."

Alfred regarded him sternly. "I shall be the judge of that if you don't mind, sir." He set the plate and glass down on the nearest flat surface and turned back to take Dick's chin between his fingers, gently tilting his head to the side to get a closer look.

A shiver ran down Dick's spine at the touch, as if someone had slid ice down his back, and he jerked his chin out of Alfred's grasp.  "I said I'm fine, okay?" he snapped.

Alfred raised an eyebrow and Dick's cheeks burned. He swallowed. "Sorry, Alfred," he muttered, backing away and looking anywhere but at Alfred. He ducked his head and fled up the stairs to the manor, feeling the older man's eyes on him the whole way.


	2. Chapter 2

"Good evening, Master Bruce. How was your trip?"

"Frustrating, but ultimately successful," Bruce replied as he set down his briefcase and shrugged off his coat.  "Hashiba kept changing the conditions of the deal but we got them to sign eventually." He hung up his coat and picked up his briefcase, pulling off his tie with his other hand. "Where's Dick?"

"He is in his room, sir."

Bruce paused. Dick was home but wasn't coming down to greet him? Odd.

Alfred seemed to read his thoughts. "I believe something may have happened, sir."

"What? Is he all right?"

"I'm afraid you shall have to ask him that yourself, Master Bruce. He has hardly spoken two words since his return from a mission with the team yesterday afternoon. I have attempted to speak with him about the matter but he will not talk. He has also barely touched his food, sir."

Bruce frowned.  "I'll talk to him."

"Very good, sir."

Bruce quickly changed into something a little more comfortable before going up to Dick's room, all the while trying to squash the sense of foreboding in his gut. He knocked on Dick's closed door and stuck his head inside to see Dick sitting hunched over at his desk, his back to the doorway. "Can I come in?"

"Oh, hey, Bruce," Dick said without turning to look at him. "Sure."

Bruce frowned at the lackluster greeting and the feeling in his gut intensified. He schooled his features into a more neutral expression as he approached the desk. Dick appeared to be doing homework; books and pieces of paper were strewn about and he had his laptop and an open notebook in front of him.

Dick's cheeks were a little flushed, his hair was damp and slightly tousled, and Bruce could smell the lingering scent of Dick's shower gel. When his eyes fell on Dick's face his eyebrows drew together into another frown. There was a sizeable bruise on Dick's right cheekbone, the skin around his eye red and a little swollen, and another bruise stretching across the left side of his jaw.

"Dick, what happened?"

"What happened when?" Dick asked, without looking up from his homework. Dick's phone buzzed, but the boy ignored it. "Care to be more specific?"

"The bruises on your face," Bruce clarified, though he had a feeling Dick knew exactly what he was talking about. The fact that Dick had yet to even glance at him bothered Bruce.

Dick shrugged. "Mission with the team didn't go entirely as planned. I got caught, the team came to my rescue. The end. How was your trip?"

"Whoa, hold on, you got 'caught' as in captured?"

"Yup. The bad guys just roughed me up a little. No big deal."

Bruce's frown deepened. Dick sounded off. He was clearly trying to downplay what had happened, and his trying to change the subject and the white-knuckled grip he had on his pen suggested there was something he didn't want Bruce to know about. Something that had upset him, put him on edge.

Dick's phone buzzed again, but Dick still ignored the device.

"Don't you want to get that?" Bruce asked.

Dick shrugged.

The phone buzzed a third time.

"It sounds urgent."

"It's just Wally," Dick said with a shrug. "He's been texting me all day."

"What if he's in trouble?"

"He wouldn't be texting me if he was," Dick replied, but he checked his phone anyway. As he did so, his sleeve caught on something, pulling it up slightly and revealing a bandage around his wrist.

"What's wrong with your wrist?"

"Huh?" Dick looked at his arm and immediately pulled his sleeve further down to cover up the bandage. "Oh. Uh…the handcuffs they put me in were a little tight. Look, Bruce, do you mind? I kinda want to finish my homework. This stuff's due tomorrow."

Bruce wasn't about to be brushed off.

"Dick," he began, reaching out to touch Dick's shoulder. His hand had barely made proper contact when Dick flinched so violently that he almost knocked over his desk lamp. Surprised, Bruce immediately withdrew his hand as Dick looked up at him with wide eyes.

Bruce's heart sank. Something was very wrong.

Dick recovered quickly, giving him a smile that was so fake it set Bruce's teeth on edge. "Sorry. Guess my shoulder's still a little sore."

What Dick was telling him didn't mesh with the naked fear that had flashed across the boy's face a moment ago, and it made Bruce clench his jaw until it hurt. He dragged a chair over to the desk and sat down so he could look Dick in the eye. "Dick, tell me what happened."

Dick's smile faltered. "I already told you what happened, okay? I'm fine."

"You are not fine. Something happened on your mission with the team that upset you. I want you to tell me what it is."

Dick's features slipped into a scowl but a polite knock on the door forestalled his reply. Bruce didn't have to turn around to know who it was.

"Pardon me for interrupting, sirs," Alfred said, his tone apologetic. "You have a phone call from Mister Fox, Master Bruce."

"Tell him I'll call him back," Bruce said, not taking his eyes off of Dick, who was starting to fidget under his stare.

"I'm very sorry, Master Bruce, but he said it was urgent. Tiblisi Facilities is apparently threatening to terminate their contract with Wayne Tech due to some kind of malfunction, sir."

Of course it was urgent. Bruce very nearly growled with frustration as he got up from the chair. "Fine. I'll be right there."

"Very good, sir," Alfred said before he left the two of them alone once more.

Bruce stared down at Dick, who refused to look up at him. "Don’t think you're off the hook, Dick. We'll talk about this when I get back, understood?"

"Bruce, there's nothing to talk a-"

"Is that _understood_?"

"Okay! Yes! Understood."

"Good."

Unfortunately, it took longer for Bruce to avert the imminent crisis at Wayne Tech than he would have liked. By the time he finally hung up the phone after his last-ditch but ultimately successful attempt at damage control it was well past dinner-time. What was worse was that he was already late for patrol and hadn't had a chance to talk to Dick. The boy's evasiveness disturbed him; it was out of character for a kid who generally enjoyed talking about pretty much anything.

"Did you manage to straighten everything out, Master Bruce?" Alfred asked him when Bruce passed him in the hallway.

"Barely," Bruce replied absently. "Is Dick down in the cave, Alfred?"

"I'm afraid Master Dick has already gone to bed, sir."

Bruce stopped dead in his tracks. "What?" He'd fully expected Dick to be waiting for him in the Batcave, ready and eager to go on patrol, as he always was.

"He said he wasn't feeling well, sir."

Bruce frowned. That sounded suspiciously like an excuse to avoid having to talk to him. Dick never missed patrol, barring broken bones or other debilitating injuries and team missions. Even when Dick had had the flu a few months ago he'd tried to hide how sick he was so Bruce would take him on patrol. The fact that he was purposely skipping out on doing something he loved just to avoid talking to Bruce told him things were even worse than he'd thought.

"Did he look unwell to you, Alfred?"

"He seemed more upset than ill, sir. He barely ate two spoonfuls."

Bruce nodded. "I'll talk to him tomorrow. Right now I have to go on patrol. Would you keep an eye on Dick, Alfred?"

"Of course, sir."

oOo

It was 3 a.m. when Batman finally returned from a long and arduous patrol. He would never admit it but Batman was less efficient without Robin at his side. Although he kept one eye on the boy at all times, with Robin in the field Batman was able to focus on taking down the big guns while Robin incapacitated the lesser criminals.

As he took a shower and changed into civilian clothes, Bruce made a mental note to talk to Dick as soon as he got home from school tomorrow. He would not let Robin out on patrol before he knew exactly what had happened on that mission with the team that had Dick behaving so out of character. If Dick still refused to tell him, Bruce would have to go through the team's mission reports or question the team in person. Dick would be pissed off at him, but Bruce would find out what happened one way or another.

He was halfway up the stairs leading to the bedrooms when the screams began. Heart hammering, he took the remainder of the steps two at a time and sprinted down the hallway to Dick's room. He barreled through the door, ready to take on whatever he found inside, but stopped short when he saw that there was no one in the room but Dick, who was flailing about in his bed.

Bruce frowned. It had been a while since Dick had had one of his nightmares, or at least one of the ones that had him screaming down the manor. Bruce quickly strode over to the bed and switched on the reading light, freezing when he got a good look at Dick.

Dick's thrashing had caused his pajama top to ride up a little, exposing some very suspicious-looking scratches and bruises on his stomach. And- Jesus Christ were those teeth marks?!

Red hot fury rose up inside Bruce like a flash flood. His fingernails dug into his palms as his hands balled into tight fists and his teeth clenched so hard his jaw cracked. Someone had put their hands on his son! Bruce felt himself shake with pure rage. Some sick son of a bitch had _dared_ to touch his boy and- Christ, what if it had gone beyond that?

Something twisted in his gut at the thought, like a coiled snake about to strike, and he felt his blood boil. The sudden urge to go out and smash things – _people_ – and tear them apart was overwhelming, the adrenalin roaring through his veins demanding vengeance.

"No! Get- get off of me! GET OFF ME! STOP!"

The terrified cry was what finally pulled him back from the edge and reminded him that Dick was still in the throes of his nightmare. Bruce grappled with his anger and outrage and managed to wrestle it down to a more controllable level.

"Dick." Bruce grimaced when his voice came out sounding more like Batman than Bruce Wayne, and cleared his throat. "Come on, Dick, wake up, you’re having a nightmare." Avoiding Dick's flailing limbs, Bruce very carefully placed a hand on Dick's shoulder and shook it gently. Dick woke with a start, eyes wide and wild, backpedalling until his back hit the headboard.

Bruce quickly withdrew his hand and shifted so that he was in Dick's field of vision. "Dick, it's all right, you're safe."

Dick jumped and stared at him, breathing hard until it finally registered where he was and who was with him. "Bruce?"

Bruce knelt beside the bed, bringing himself down to eye-level. "Yeah, it's me. You were having a nightmare. You okay, kiddo?"

Dick shuddered and pulled his knees up to his chest. "Y-yeah."

"Want to talk about it?" Bruce asked, his heart aching at the distraught look on Dick's face.

Dick refused to look at him. "Not really."

Bruce sighed. "Dick, I know what happened."

Dick's eyes widened and this time he did look at Bruce. "W-what?"

"I know what happened on your mission with the team." Bruce took a deep breath, trying to keep a lid on his already rising temper. Just the thought of what some sick fuck had done to Dick made him want to strangle someone. "Dick, when you were captured…someone touched you, didn't they?"

All color drained from Dick's face and his mouth fell open. "What? N-no! That didn't- I- Who told you that?"

"Nobody. I saw the marks, Dick."

It was as if the words sliced through the strings of denial that had kept Dick from coming apart; his face crumpled and he curled in on himself, hugging his legs to his chest and hiding his face in his knees, his shoulders shaking.

Struggling to rein in his anger once more, Bruce got up and sat down on the mattress beside Dick, careful not to crowd him. Dick flinched when Bruce placed a hand on his back, but when Bruce didn't remove his hand, Dick gradually began to lean into the touch. Bruce took it as permission and slowly started rubbing Dick's back.

He felt completely out of his depth. Dick rarely cried, which made the few times that he did all the more disconcerting. Even after four years of having Dick in his life, he still felt ill-equipped to deal with his tears.

They sat like that for a while until finally Dick calmed down and uncurled himself just enough for him to be able to lean against Bruce's side a little. Bruce was tempted to put an arm around him to pull him closer but wasn't sure how that would be received. He needed to let Dick feel in control.

"Sorry," Dick muttered, sniffling.

Bruce reached for the box of tissues on the nightstand and offered Dick one, who used it to wipe at his wet cheeks and nose. "You have nothing to apologize for, Dick."

"Crying is for babies."

"Who told you that?"

Dick shrugged.

"Given the circumstances you have every right to be upset."

Dick said nothing and stared at his knees.

Bruce steeled himself. "Dick, I need you to tell me what happened."

Dick's head jerked up to stare at him. "W-what? You said you already knew what happened!"

"I have a pretty good idea, yes, but I need to know how far it went."

Dick's face flushed. "Why?"

"Medical reasons, for one, but also for my own peace of mind."

Dick turned his face away. "But I- I don't _want_ to talk about it. I just want to forget it happened…"

"I know, kiddo, but it's important. I want to make sure you're all right and that that bast- creep that put his hands on you gets what's coming to him, and that he doesn't do it to anyone else." Anger stirred in his gut once more and he stamped down on it firmly. Now was not the time to go into vigilante-mode.

Dick picked at a loose string on his comforter before he finally said: "It-it was two guys."

Bruce nearly blew a gasket. " _What?!_ "

"I mean, I was blindfolded so I'm not sure if there were other people in the room too, but- there was one guy that- that held down my legs. I- I was lying on my back on the floor and my hands were tied to something so when- when I realized there was- there was a guy on top of me doing- stuff, I started kicking out really hard. But then that guy ordered the second guy to hold down my legs. He didn't want to at first but the- the guy on top of me started threatening him."

Bruce's hands curled into fists. So there were two men that had touched his child. God damn it all to hell!

"Anyway, they- he- the team got there before the guy could do anything really bad."

Bruce frowned, his heart pounding. "Define 'really bad'."

"…R-rape?" Dick said, his cheeks aflame.

Bruce slumped back against the headboard, letting out a long sigh of relief; his son had been spared the horrible physical and emotional trauma of actual rape. Thank god. Molestation was traumatizing enough but rape- he wasn't sure if Dick would've been able to come back from that.

He knew he had the team to thank for saving Dick from suffering a horrific emotional wound that might never have healed. As if the kid hadn't been traumatized enough by his parents' deaths, he had to- wait. The team?

Bruce frowned. "Where was the team?" he asked suddenly. "They should've had your back."

Dick stiffened beside him, looking up at Bruce with wide eyes, his embarrassment and mortification momentarily forgotten. "No, Bruce, don't blame the team! It was _my_ fault. All- all of it. I- I went off on my own and I shouldn't have," Dick went on in a rush. "I thought- if I could just get the building's blueprints we'd get the mission done a lot faster so I went looking for a computer but I never told the team and then I was dumb enough to get caught and-"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down, kiddo. You're saying that what that son of a- that creep did to you was your fault because you didn't tell the team what you were going to do and then got captured?"

Dick nodded, eyes averted and shrinking in on himself again.

"Dick- hey, look at me." He waited until Dick had turned back towards him, but his eyes remained downcast. Bruce reached out, slowly, and tilted Dick's chin up so that reluctant blue eyes were finally looking up at him. "Dick, none of this was your fault. Do you understand me? None of it."

"But if I- if I hadn't gone off on my own or just told the team where I was going, it- it never would've happened. I was stupid and- and I guess I- I had it coming."

Bruce stared at him. Was Dick _really_ saying he deserved what that monster had done to him? "Dick, no. Just- NO.  What if it had happened to Wally? Or M'gann?"

"It never would've happened to them."

"Why, because they have superpowers?"

"Well…yeah."

"You know as well as I do that that doesn't make them invulnerable. They all have weaknesses. When Wally was captured and beat up by Kobra's cronies a few months ago, did you think the beating he got was his own fault? That he'd had it coming? That he'd asked for it by getting caught?"

"What? No!"

"Why not?"

"Because- because he _didn't_ ask for it and…because he…had no control over what happened after he got caught…" Dick said slowly, understanding clearly dawning on him.

"Exactly. Falling into enemy hands must be avoided at all times and yes, from now on you _will_ tell the team where you're going, but you had _no_ control over what those men did to you after you were captured. You didn't ask for it and you sure as hell didn't deserve it."

Dick seemed to mull that over for a while, absent-mindedly picking at his comforter. "I…guess you're right," he said eventually.

"You guess?" Bruce pressed.

"No…you're right. I know you're right," Dick said, though Bruce wished he sounded a little more sure of himself.

A sudden shiver ran through Dick.

Bruce frowned. "Are you cold?"

Dick shook his head. "No, I- it's just- sometimes I can- I can still feel him on me, Bruce…" Dick said in a near whisper.

"Oh kiddo," Bruce said, and this time he did wrap an arm around the small, huddled form beside him and pulled Dick close.

Dick stiffened at first but gradually relaxed against him, eventually burying his face in Bruce's shirt.

"It's okay, kiddo," Bruce murmured as he rubbed Dick's back. "We'll work through this, you'll be okay."

Bruce's mind reeled with violent thoughts. Tomorrow he was going to check the team's mission reports to find out who were responsible for his son's anguish and then the Batman would pay them a little visit.

oOo

The next day found Batman glowering through the barred windows of the Bridgeport Correctional Center's medical ward. Ezekiel Payne, the scum that had put his filthy hands on Robin, was handcuffed to a bed in a room he shared with ten other injured inmates and defendants.

The team had done a number on him: the arm not handcuffed to the bedrail was in a cast, as was his right leg. His face was swollen and bruised, his nose quite obviously broken.

Conflicting emotions warred inside Batman. On the one hand it was satisfying to see that the piece of filth that had molested Robin had been quite thoroughly dealt with by the team, who had clearly been as pissed off as he was at finding out what that monster had done to Robin. On the other, he _hated_ that he had not been the one to inflict pain on the man.

He would have to pay the vermin another visit once he'd recovered enough to be released from the medical ward. There was no way he would let Payne walk around without having been properly threatened by the Batman.

 


	3. Chapter 3

"Oh, come on! Seriously, how did they not see that coming?" Wally exclaimed, gesturing at the TV-screen in exasperation. Honestly, some of those horror flicks were _ridiculous_.

Wally could practically _feel_ the glare Conner was sending him from where he was sitting beside M'gann. He was pretty sure it would've melted him on the spot if the guy had had actual heat vision.

"What?" Wally said. "They just—"

_Recognized, Batman 01. Recognized, Robin B01._

Wally sprang up, knocking over a bowl of popcorn in the process, and bolted to the cave's zeta tube. Robin was back!

His best friend hadn't been around for almost three weeks now, ever since their last mission had gone so horribly, horribly wrong, and he and Wally had barely spoken. Robin had made it pretty clear in the first few days after the incident that he didn't really want to talk. He hadn't responded to Wally's texts or phone calls; it wasn't until after Wally's fifty-forth text or something that his friend had replied to say he was okay and to give him some space. Wally hadn't contacted him after that, but it had been hard.

He'd worried about him a lot and, well, he'd just missed hanging out with his best friend.

His uncle Barry had let slip that Robin had been to see Black Canary a few times, but those visits had been carefully scheduled for days when none of the team were around. For about a nanosecond Wally had considered going to see Black Canary himself; he'd had a little – okay, more than a little – trouble sleeping after witnessing what those bastards had been doing to Robin. Yeah, of course he'd known about pedophiles and child molesters and stuff before all this had happened, but he'd never encountered one before and he'd never thought…he'd never thought anything like that could ever happen to any of them - to _Robin_. Quite apart from the fact that Robin was badass, they were _heroes_. You know, sort of. This kind of stuff wasn't _supposed_ to happen to them!

Wally reached the zeta tube just as his best friend materialized, dressed in his Robin costume. Batman, who'd been waiting outside the tube entrance, gave Robin's shoulder a barely perceptible squeeze before stalking off. "Mission briefing in five," Batman said, completely ignoring Wally as he strode past. Which, you know, was fine by Wally.

He turned to face his best friend. For some reason Wally had expected him to look different, but he didn't. He looked his usual skinny self, though…he was fidgeting a little. Which was weird. Robin didn't fidget. Like, ever. Dick Grayson did, on occasion, but not Robin.

"Do I have something on my face?"

Wally blinked. "What?"

"You're _staring_ ," Robin said.

"Oh." Wally shook himself. "Sorry, dude! I didn't mean to-"

"Robin!"

They both turned to see M'gann walking up to the two of them, the rest of the team in tow.

"Hey, Miss M," Robin replied with a smile.

"It's so good to see you! How are you doing?"

Robin's smile didn't falter, and Wally noticed that he'd stopped fidgeting. "Fine. What'd I miss?"

"Wally. Talking. _A lot_ ," Conner said with a scowl, folding his arms across his chest.

Robin grinned. "Not much then."

"Hey!"

"I am pleased you are well, Robin," Kaldur remarked, his pale blue eyes warm. "Does Batman have a new mission for us?"

"Yeah, he's about to brief us actually," Robin replied. "Let's not keep him waiting; he gets kinda grouchy when people make him wait."

Wally raised an eyebrow. "You mean, grouchier than usual."

Robin shrugged and led the way to the briefing area, where Batman was indeed waiting for them.

"Doctor Melissa Botner, one of the country's leading biochemists, was reported missing two days ago," Batman began after they'd all gathered around, projecting an image of a dark-skinned woman with graying hair onto the holloscreen. "Sources indicate she was kidnapped by Kobra followers. Dr. Botner specializes in genetic mutation and organic enhancement, which Kobra will undoubtedly want to use to his advantage. Kobra has many compounds scattered throughout the country; recently, the League managed to obtain information regarding the suspected location of one of such compounds. Your mission will be to infiltrate this compound and seek out information regarding Dr. Botner's whereabouts."

Wally only barely managed to stop himself from bouncing. _Search and rescue mission! Sweeeeet!_

"This is strictly an intel-gathering mission," Batman said, looking directly at Wally. "It is _not_ a search and rescue."

"What?" Wally blurted. "Aw, man!"

"Batman," Robin cut in, "what if Dr. Botner is actually being held at the compound we're investigating? Shouldn't we try to rescue her?"

Wally perked up because, yeah, that was a good point.

"In the unlikely event she is being held at that particular compound, you will only engage if she is in immediate danger. In all other cases you will relay the information you gathered to us and the League will take care of it. Understood?"

Wally scowled. He hated it when the League gave them small stuff to keep them busy. Intel-gathering missions were usually the most yawn-inducing missions on the planet, especially when they involved stake-outs.

Okay, so _maybe_ their last mission hadn't exactly gone off without a hitch, he reminded himself with a glance at Robin, and it _had_ been three weeks since they'd actually been on a mission together, so…maybe Bats was just being cautious. After what had happened to Robin the last time he was out with the team, Wally supposed he couldn't really blame him. Wally's own feelings of guilt had receded somewhat over the past few weeks, but they still threatened to suffocate him sometimes.

They should've had Robin's back. _He_ should've had Robin's back.

One thing was for sure: no way was he going to let his best friend out of his sight this time.

oOo

"Are we there yet?" Wally asked, slouching back in his seat with a pout when nobody answered. Jeez, he'd only asked that question twice before. Okay, _maybe_ three times. Four tops.

The Kobra compound they were headed to was located deep within the woods of Pennsylvania, a three-hour flight with the bioship, which Wally spent bored out of his freaking skull. Seriously, next time he was gonna _run_ to wherever they were going because he'd get there SO MUCH FASTER. Okay, so he would still have to wait for the rest of the team to arrive, but--

"Robin, do you have remote access to the security system?" Aqualad asked, interrupting Wally's thoughts. The question made Wally sit up because it meant they were approaching their destination. _Finally._

"Robin?" Aqualad repeated when no answer was forthcoming.

Wally glanced over at Robin, who was staring out one of the side-windows. He'd been uncharacteristically quiet the whole flight and didn't seem to have heard Kaldur at all.

"Uh…bioship to Rob," Wally said. "Rob, come in, Rob."

Robin started and tore his gaze away from the window. "What?"

"I asked if you have remote access to the security system," Kaldur said, his voice patient.

"Oh, uh…" Robin immediately pulled up his wrist computer, scowling at the images it projected. He typed furiously for a few minutes before shaking his head. "I'm not reading any signals. Either they've got no security system or they're blocking the signals somehow. Guess we'll have to go in the old-fashioned way. Well, and with SB's infrared."

The density of the forest forced them to set the bioship down in a clearing about a mile from the Kobra compound. As they approached the perimeter, using the dense vegetation surrounding the building for cover, they discovered the place was huge: a three-storey concrete fortress. Getting in and finding the information they were looking for was going to take some time.

"Superboy, how many people are inside?" Aqualad asked.

Superboy squinted at the building but turned back to Aqualad only a few seconds later, a heavy frown on his face. "Thermo-radiation is being blocked. I can't see inside."

"They may have lined the walls with lead," Robin remarked. "Would explain why I'm not getting any signals."

"Then we will have to go in blind," Aqualad said. "This will require extra caution. Kid, perform a sweep of the perimeter, look for possible points of entry and report back."

"Sure thing," Wally replied, delighted that he finally had something to do. He sped around the building, making sure to stick to the tree line, and made mental notes of any doors, windows or other weak spots that might help them get inside.

He rejoined the team seconds later. "Well, they have an actual front door and there's like this big garage door in the back, so getting in shouldn't be much of a problem."

"Good. We will split up to cover more ground. Kid Flash will accompany Robin, the rest of us will search the building separately," Aqualad decided.

Robin scowled. "Why does KF have to go with me? I don't need a babysitter," he protested, "KF can cover more ground on his own."

"I am not having Kid Flash accompany you because I think you need a babysitter, Robin," Aqualad explained calmly. "It is because I do not want you to be unprotected when you are hacking."

"C'mon, dude, we haven't been on a mission together in ages! It'll be cool," Wally piped up when it looked like Robin was about to argue.

Robin sighed and rolled his eyes. "Fine."

They split up. It was decided they would each try to enter the building from different sides to minimize their chances of being discovered, and then search the building floor by floor. Robin and Wally made their way around to the east side of the building, still using the trees for cover.

Wally peered up at the small window he'd spotted on his quick survey of the building. The lights were on inside, but that was pretty much all he could see from their position. "It'll be a tight squeeze," he commented. "For me anyway, you'll probably be able to just slide right in there with your—" He glanced at the spot beside him, where just a moment ago Robin had been standing, only to find his friend wasn't there. "—skinny butt? Rob?" The fine hairs on the back of Wally's neck stood on end and his heart skipped a beat as he threw his gaze around but found no trace of his friend. For a second he flashed back to that chilling moment three weeks ago, when he'd realized Robin was no longer behind him and wasn't responding to their calls.

"Robin!" he hissed, heart pounding and looking around frantically. "Rob, where are you? You'd better not be doing the ninja thing right now because so help me—"

There was a sudden rustle of leaves and then Robin dropped down beside him. "Jeez, Wally, keep your pants on. I'm right here."

"Dude! Where were you?"

"I just wanted to check if I could see through that window."

"Rob, seriously, do _not_ just disappear like that again."

"I'm sorry, I thought you saw me go up…"

"Well, make sure next time, okay?" Wally said with a scowl, planting his hands on his hips.

Robin stared at him before averting his eyes and looking down at the ground. "Sorry, I just… Sorry."

The look on Robin's face twisted a knife of guilt into Wally's gut. _Good job, West, you're momming your best friend. Quit it!_ "Sorry," he said, rubbing the back of his neck, "I uh…overreacted a little."

Robin looked up and gave him a small smile, but didn't quite meet his eyes. "s'okay."

"So uh…were you able to get a look inside?"

Robin shook his head. "Couldn't get high enough. We'll just have to be careful."

"Kid, Robin, are you in position?" Aqualad's voice sounded through the radio.

"We're ready," Robin replied immediately, all business.

"Good. Proceed, but exercise extreme caution. Once you've given the all-clear, Miss Martian, Superboy and I will also make our way inside. If any of us come across a computer before you do, we will direct you to it."

"Got it."

Wally briefly felt M'gann's presence in his mind as she linked them telepathically before it faded to the background. He glanced at Robin, who nodded, and turned his back so Robin could climb on. When Robin didn’t immediately do so, Wally glanced over his shoulder to find Robin wavering.

"Dude?" Wally prompted.

Robin set his jaw and climbed on. It wasn't until Wally brought his arms up to support Robin's legs that he realized what must've been behind his friend's momentary hesitation; he was probably still wary of being touched. Having someone touch his legs, even if it was his best friend, likely stirred up some uncomfortable memories.

"You okay?" Wally asked, feeling the tension in his friend's body.

"Fine," Robin replied. "Let's go."

Wally zipped them over to the building and positioned them directly underneath the window. Robin fired his grapple gun and soared into the air as Wally sped back to the tree line to avoid being seen. As Robin worked on getting the window open, Wally kept a watchful eye from his hiding spot until Robin waved at him and began to lower himself back to the ground. Wally zipped back over and grabbed onto Robin's belt as his friend used his grapple gun once more.

As he'd predicted, Robin was able to slip inside gracefully whereas Wally only barely managed to squirm his way through. Wally's feet had barely touched the floor before Robin was giving the rest of the team the all-clear. He must've used the time it had taken Wally to get inside to scan for security measures.

_"No security cams or alarm systems that I can see,"_ Robin was saying through the link, _"and I'm still not picking up any signals, but that doesn't mean they're not there. They might have some localized security measures in place, so be careful."_

As luck would have it, he and Robin had ended up in the middle of an empty corridor. Only problem was that it was brightly-lit, which meant they were sitting ducks, so they quickly moved to explore the rest of the building in search of any information on Dr. Botner.

They encountered several guards patrolling the corridors, armed to the teeth, but they managed to avoid most of them by ducking into broom closets and hiding in shadows. This was Wally's least favorite part; being stealthy just was _not_ his thing and he wished he could just zip down the hallways and take out Kobra's henchmen in one fell swoop, but Batman probably wouldn't approve because, you know, not exactly covert and he really didn't need another Bat lecture. Robin, of course, was completely in his element.

After half an hour of searching through endless rooms, they came across several labs, some of them deserted but others crawling with activity. The scientist in him had Wally itching to take a closer look, but Robin just shook his head and pointed towards one of the empty labs.

Computers. Right.

They slipped inside a lab that was dimly-lit and Robin made a beeline for the desktop in the back corner. His fingers were flying across the keyboard before the computer had even booted up properly. Wally positioned himself near one of the windows facing the corridor, where he could peek through the blinds to make sure nobody would be sneaking up on them.

For a while, Robin's furious typing was the only sound in the room. Robin's silence bothered Wally a little; whenever he was hacking, Robin usually kept up a running commentary, if not verbally than at least mentally, sometimes to the exasperation of his team mates. Come to think of it, Robin hadn't really said much of anything during this mission so far. He'd been pretty quiet during the three-hour flight, too.

"Hey, Rob?" Wally said quietly, glancing over his shoulder at his friend.

"Hm?"

"You okay?"

Robin sighed. "I'd be a lot better if people would stop asking me that all the time."

"Sorry. We're just…you know, worried about you."

Robin didn't pause in his typing. "I'm _fine_. Totally whelmed."

"You don't seem fine. I mean, after what happened last-"

"I don't want to talk about that."

"But-"

The typing stopped but Robin kept his eyes on the screen. "Wally, I'm serious. I don't want to talk about it. I'm _okay_."

Wally stared at him. "Fine, if you say so." Robin resumed his typing and Wally turned back to the window, checking the corridor until something else occurred to him. He looked over his shoulder at Robin once more. "You're not mad at me, are you?"

Robin looked over at him briefly. "What? Why would I be mad at you?"

"I dunno, it's just- you've barely said a word to me this whole mission."

Robin stopped typing. "That doesn't have anything to do with you, okay? I'm not mad at you, I just…don't want to screw up again. I need to concentrate." He resumed typing.

_Screw up again?_ Wally frowned. "What do you mean 'screw up—'"

"I've got something," Robin interrupted.

Wally peeked through the blinds one more time before zipping over to stand behind Robin's chair. "What is it?"

Robin grinned for the first time this mission. "I hit the jackpot. I know where they're holding Dr. Botner, got info on Kobra's current research _and_ I've got the locations of at least three other Kobra compounds. Copying to my wrist computer now."

"Sweet!"

_"Aqualad, we're good to go,"_ Robin sent through the telepathic link as he unplugged his wrist computer and shut down the desktop computer. Wally zipped back to the window.

_"Good work, Robin. Team, exit the building and meet at the rendez-vous point as soon as possible. Remember, do not engage unless absolutely necessary."_

A sudden blast of sound made Wally jump out of his skin as an ear-splitting alarm went off and a second later red lights were flashing.

"Uh…Rob?"

"Crap. Okay, really time to go now."

"Corridor's clear but I doubt it's gonna stay that way," Wally said, moving to the door as Robin joined him. "Back the way we came?"

"Yup."

This time Robin climbed onto his back without hesitation and Wally flung open the door and stepped into the hallway just as several armed guards skidded around the corner and immediately raised their automatic weapons when they spotted the two of them.

"Go, KF, go!"

"Going!" Wally zipped into the opposite direction, tightening his hold on Robin's legs because dropping Robin here would be very, very bad.

He sped down several corridors, bowling over anybody who got in their way, Robin taking out a few guards with some perfectly aimed batarangs.

"Left!" Robin reminded him when they reached an intersection and Wally changed direction at the last second. He was glad Robin was a good navigator because wow, this place was a maze when you needed to get out fast!

They zipped down several more corridors, bullets whistling past their ears, when all of a sudden Wally's legs felt wobbly and it was getting hard to run in a straight line, his vision going fuzzy. _What the hell?_

"KF? What's wrong?" Robin asked, but Wally was suddenly out of breath. He slowed down to almost normal speed and then tripped over his own feet, sending the both of them flying.

_What- what's happening?_ Wally tried to get his feet back under him, but his limbs lacked any sort of coordination and just would not listen to what his brain was telling them to do. He slowly became aware of a faint hissing sound and felt his stomach roll when he realized: gas!

A dark shape hovered above him suddenly; it was Robin, but there was something wrong with his face and his voice sounded distorted in Wally's ears. His heart was pounding and his vision was growing dark. He tried to fight it, but it was hopeless. Within seconds darkness dragged him under and he knew nothing more.

oOo

"Kid."

Something tickled his cheek, something cool and damp that smelled like…grass?

"Kid, are you all right?"

Wally groaned; his head hurt and he felt a little nauseous. He blinked his eyes open, surprised to find that he was outside, Aqualad kneeling beside him. He could see the overcast night sky above him.

"What happened?" Wally mumbled.

"You were rendered unconscious by some form of gas," Aqualad replied.

Gas? What-?

His memories of the past few hours slammed into him suddenly and he bolted upright, ignoring the roll of his stomach. "Robin!" he exclaimed, looking around frantically. "Where's Rob?" _Oh god, if something's happened to him…_

"Dude, chill," a voice said from behind Aqualad. "I'm right here." Aqualad shifted and there was Robin, sitting on the grass only a couple of feet away, leaning back on his hands. He looked slightly the worse for wear with some cuts and bruises on his face, but he was wearing his patented cheeky Robin grin. Wally felt something ease inside of him at the sight of it.

"You okay?" Wally asked.

"Yup. You?"

"Kinda queasy. And confused," Wally replied. "What- how did we get out?"

Robin beamed at him. "Well, while you were busy _napping_ , I kicked butt."

Wally stared. Robin's whole demeanor was different from- well, from before he'd passed out and Wally realized suddenly what his best friend had been lacking the entire mission: confidence.

"But- how did you get _me_ out?"

"Superboy may or may not have assisted with actually hauling your butt outside," Robin said, the grin never leaving his face. "He was the one who triggered the alarm so it was only fair he had to do some of the work."

Wally looked around, realizing they were in a clearing near the bioship. "Speaking of Supey, where is he? And where's M'gann?"

"They are making sure none of Kobra's henchmen have followed us. They will meet us here soon," Aqualad replied, standing up.

Wally followed his example but faltered when he was hit by a dizzy spell. Both Robin and Aqualad were beside him in a flash.

"KF, you okay?" Robin asked, touching his arm.

"Yeah, just a little groggy. Hey, how come you weren't affected by the gas?"

"Foldable gas mask," Robin explained. "I put it on as soon as I realized what was going on. I think the gas didn't affect me before then because I always kind of duck my head down behind your shoulder a little when you're giving me a piggyback. The wind always makes it a little hard to breathe when we're going at superspeed."

"Oh." Foldable gas mask. _Of course_ Robin would have a foldable gas mask stashed away in one of those pouches somewhere.

_"All clear,"_ M'gann's mental voice said suddenly and the three of them turned to see her and Superboy make their way over to them.

"It's good to see you awake, Wally," M'gann said as they drew near. "How are you feeling?"

Wally straightened quickly. "Never better, babe," he said with a grin, ignoring Robin's snort.

"Miss Martian, please prepare the bioship for departure. We must report our findings, or rather, Robin's findings, to the League," Aqualad said.

M'gann decloaked the ship and they trouped inside. Wally leaned back in his seat as he listened to Robin filling in the rest of the team on the information they'd acquired. This time the three-hour flight didn't feel like that long at all because Robin seemed much more like himself, making the return flight far less boring. Maybe now that Robin had gotten some of his confidence back, they would all be able to put what had happened on their last mission behind them and things would go back to normal soon.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for assault on a minor (not graphic).

**_Six months later_ **

"Ugh…this place smells like your room," Robin commented, as he hunkered down beside Wally.

Wally wrinkled his nose. "You kidding? It smells like a toilet in here."

"Uh…yeah, that's what I said."

Wally glared at Robin. "Dude! Not cool," he hissed. "We don't all have butlers to clean our rooms, you know."

"Actually, _Agent A_ makes me clean my own room," Robin whispered back. "He blackmails me by not letting me have any of his triple chocolate chip cookies until every inch of my room's been disinfected."

Wally winced. "Ooooh, that's cruel. I've tasted those cookies; purposely withholding them is, like, a major crime against humanity."

"Exactly." Robin peeked over the top of one of the crates they were hiding behind. The team had been dispatched to Blüdhaven's city docks to take out a band of weapon smugglers. Robin and Wally had just made their way inside the warehouse that had been marked as the smugglers' base of operation and were waiting for the rest of the team to take up their positions.

"Hey, when's Superboy coming back from Metropolis again?" Wally whispered.

"Tonight, I think. Why?"

Wally shrugged. "I dunno, I guess I'm starting to miss his scowl a little."

Robin snorted and took another peek. _"Aqualad,"_ Robin's voice sounded in Wally's mind. _"KF and I are in position. I've got eyes on nineteen smugglers with guns."_

 _"Nineteen smugglers confirmed,"_ Aqualad acknowledged. _"Miss Martian and I are ready. Artemis, are you in position?"_

 _"Ready,"_ Artemis responded.

_"Very well. You all know what to do. Proceed with caution."_

They moved in. Robin and Wally managed to take out four of the smugglers relatively stealthily before all hell broke loose. One of the goons on guard had apparently been rather trigger-happy (or paranoid) and immediately started shooting when a haphazardly stacked shipping crate fell over, inadvertently exposing Aqualad in the process.

The man's gunfire alerted the other smugglers and the next thing Wally knew he was dodging bullets and angry fists like he was running an obstacle course while being chased by a pack of hyenas.

It was _chaos_. He zoomed around the warehouse, trying to stay ahead of the spray of bullets – he could hear the dull thuds as they impacted the walls behind him – and was able to take out three more bad guys. In a flash he spotted Robin drop-kicking another guy, and then rushed over to help Artemis, who was about to get pinned down by three more goons. Wally tackled one of them, distracting the other two, which enabled Artemis to slam her bow into one guy's face and sweep the other man's feet out from under him with her leg.

Wally didn't stick around to gloat – even though he really, _really_ wanted to – and took off towards his next target, until a sudden crackle in his mind made him pause.

Something was wrong.

 _"Kid! Where is Robin?"_ Kaldur called to him through the mind link.

Robin. He'd dropped from the mind link. Fear prickled his nerves and he glanced around wildly. Robin was nowhere to be seen.

 _"I don't know!_ _He was right **here** a minute ago!"_

_"Find him!"_

Wally really didn't need to be told. He did a quick sweep of the floor, then zipped to the corridor he and Robin had come in through. He skidded around the corner just in time to see three men in black combat gear hightailing it out of there, one of them carrying a limp Robin over his shoulder.

_What the hell?_

_"Guys! Someone's taking Robin!"_

He didn't wait for a response. "Hey!" he shouted and was beside the men in an instant, slamming one of them into a wall. But before he could turn to take out the second guy, something bit into his neck. He reached up, his fingers encountering some kind of dart. He yanked it out.

"What-" he started, but his voice sounded weird to his own ears and his tongue suddenly felt three sizes too big. He spotted one of the men taking off with Robin and Wally moved to intercept, but the world spun and suddenly he found himself on the floor. Someone was yelling at him and it took him a moment to realize that it was in his head. He struggled to get his mind to focus, to frame a single, clear thought. _"Help!"_ The last thing he saw before he blacked out was a pair of boots coming towards him.

oOo

Wally groaned as he struggled back to the surface. _Jeez, what idiot decided to hit me with a sledgehammer?_

His head was pounding and it felt like someone had stuffed a load of cotton in there. When he opened his eyes, it took him a few seconds to realize he was sitting on the floor, his hands cuffed to some kind of pole behind him. The small room he was in was lit by a few bare light bulbs hanging from the ceiling, making it look like some kind of mafia interrogation room. There were no windows, just a solid metal door in the far left corner.

When he glanced to his right his heart leaped into his throat; a few feet away sat Robin, wrists, elbows and ankles roped to a rickety, wooden chair. Chin resting on his chest, jaw slack, Robin was obviously still unconscious, which made sense because Wally guessed he probably had his speedster metabolism to thank for being awake right now.

He didn't realize his mouth had been taped shut until he tried to call out to his friend. God, it felt like his brain was working in slow-motion or something. He shook his head a little, hoping it would clear some of the cobwebs.

Wally didn't like the discrepancy in how they had been restrained; why had Robin been tied to a chair in the centre of the room, while Wally had basically been dumped on the floor off to the side? He didn't like what that implied.

The sound of approaching footsteps made his heartbeat speed up. Voices drifted through the closed door.

"—got it. What do we do with the other one?"

"He's the Flash's kid. He'll be worth something on the market."

Before Wally had time to give any thought to what "the market" was, the door opened and a man entered. He was tall, broad-shouldered and blond, with a face that looked familiar but that Wally couldn't place.

Wally glared at the man, but he wasn't even spared a glance; the man immediately zeroed in on Robin, who was still slumped forward in his seat.

Wally bristled on his friend's behalf when the man fisted a hand in Robin's hair and yanked his head back. "Wake up."

When that didn't result in a response, the man opened his other hand and delivered a sharp slap to the cheek, making Robin's head snap to the side.

Wally made an indignant noise, but the man continued to ignore him.

The man's methods proved effective, however, as Robin's face twisted in pain and he groaned. A few seconds later his eyes opened and he squinted up at his captor as his eyes adjusted to the light in the room.

The man sneered, letting go of Robin's hair. "Remember me?"

Robin peered up at him, blinking sluggishly, clearly fighting the numbing effects of the drugs he'd been given. Finally, the confused look on his face morphed into a scowl. "Oh yeah, I remember you."

Wait, Robin knew this guy?

"Then you know I'm a man who means business."

"Actually, I mostly remember your bad breath."

The man's hand shot out and he slapped Robin so hard that the chair Robin was tied to rocked sideways a little.

Wally protested but it came out as a muffled whine.

Robin looked up at the sound and glanced at him in surprise; he obviously hadn’t realized Wally had been captured too. They locked gazes for half a second and Wally raised his eyebrows in silent question: _you okay?_

Robin managed a small nod before the man in front of him demanded his attention once more.

"I'm really not in the mood for childish antagonism, Robin. I have to say I was surprised to find out that you had survived your little dive into Gotham Bay, but then I didn't know about your super-powered buddies at the time."

Wally frowned. Robin's "dive" into Gotham Bay? Wait. This was the guy who'd had Robin kidnapped, beaten and shot and thrown him over the side of a ship a few months ago? That was _this_ guy?

Wally felt his fingernails dig into his palms as his hands tightened into fists. This guy had almost killed his best friend!

"I regret not just killing you and the Bat when I had the chance," the man was saying, "because ever since that little…incident, Batman has been _hounding_ me to the point where I can't do proper business anymore. It has to stop."

Robin smirked. "You could try asking nicely."

The sound of another painful slap echoed around the room.

"No, you're going to tell me everything there is to know about Batman, so I can _make_ him stop. Permanently."

"Yeaaaah, that's never gonna happen," Robin said, and though a thin line of blood had started to trickle down from a corner of his mouth, his smirk never left his face.

The man's annoyed expression turned murderous and he grabbed Robin's jaw, leaning in close, placing one hand on Robin's leg. "Listen here, you little snot!"

All signs of cockiness fled Robin's face as he leaned as far back in his seat as he could, his eyes growing wide. His breathing hitched and he pulled desperately on the ropes binding him to the chair as the man pushed himself even further into Robin's personal space, their noses almost touching.

Wally yanked on his own restraints as he shouted into the gag. _Get away from him!_

The man paused, studying Robin's pale face and then glancing over at Wally, acknowledging his presence for the first time. The man raised an eyebrow and then turned back to Robin, considering, before a feral grin took the guy's creep factor to a whole new level.

Still gripping Robin's jaw, the man moved his other hand up Robin's thigh, closely watching Robin's face for a reaction. Robin immediately flinched, making the chair teeter on its hind legs for a moment as he instinctively tried to tear his leg away.

Wally felt his mouth go dry. _Oh, god. No. Not that again!_

"You don't like it when I touch you, do you?" the man said, sounding triumphant. "What, did some big bad guy touch you inappropriately? I don't usually go for that sort of thing, but if it gets me what I want…" The man slightly loosened his hold on Robin's jaw to rub his thumb over Robin's bottom lip.

Wally seethed, straining against his cuffs, wanting desperately to get this _pervert_ off of Robin and pound his face in. _DON'T TOUCH HIM! GET YOUR FREAKING HANDS OFF OF HIM!_

Robin had gone so pale he looked like he was going to pass out. "Don't."

"Tell me what I want to know and I'll stop."

Robin pressed his lips together and tried to free himself from the man's rough grip, but the fingers only seemed to dig in deeper.

"Who is Batman?" the man asked, almost tenderly brushing Robin's bangs aside.

Robin shook his head as best he could, his chest heaving.

The man caressed Robin's face and let the fingers of his free hand trail down Robin's throat, pausing at the first clasp of Robin's tunic.

Wally was starting to feel sick.

"Where are Batman's headquarters?"

Robin shook his head again, swallowing visibly.

The man finally released Robin's jaw, only to use both hands to undo the first two clasps of Robin's suit and partly pulling down the zipper beneath.

Robin's eyes grew even wider, lips quivering as if he was about to cry. "Please, s-stop."

Wally by now was throwing himself against his restraints, for all the good it would do, but he needed to do something! Anything! He could not let this happen! Images from a disastrous mission six months ago overwhelmed Wally and he yanked on his cuffs even harder, frantic, screaming through the gag. He'd never been so furious in his life; the utter rage that coursed through his veins was making his entire body vibrate.

_LEAVE HIM ALONE, YOU BASTARD! GET YOUR SLEAZY PAWS OFF OF HIM!_

But he might as well have been invisible for all the attention the man paid him. The guy was completely intent on Robin. Wally was powerless and his inability to stop what was happening to Robin was _killing_ him.

"I won't stop until you tell me what I want to know."

"I-I _can't_."

The man undid the last clasp and yanked the zipper all the way down, exposing part of Robin's chest and abdomen. "Where. Are. Batman's. Headquarters?!" He slid his hand in between the folds of fabric and Kevlar and-

"Stop! Please! I'll-I'll tell you!" Robin exclaimed suddenly.

The man pulled his hand away and straightened up a little, a smug look on his face- and then suddenly, inexplicably, Robin's foot shot out and kicked the man in the shin. Hard. As the guy grunted and reached for his leg, Robin pivoted and threw himself sideways, ramming the chair into the man's side.

Wally gawked as they both went down, the chair splintering on impact as it hit the floor. Robin managed to disentangle himself before the man recovered and rushed towards Wally, his arms still tied to the remains of what had once been the back of the chair. Robin dropped to his knees behind him but Wally was still so shocked that it took his brain a few seconds to catch up. It was the urgency in Robin's voice that finally made him realize Robin was speaking to him.

"KF! I've got a set of handcuff keys in my belt, use your left hand, third pouch to your right!"

Wally blindly fumbled with the pouches, having a hard time getting his mind to focus, but just as the man began to show signs of recovery, Wally's fingers closed around the keys. As soon as he felt the cuffs fall away from his wrists, he yanked the gag from his mouth and launched himself at the bastard, who was just pushing himself to his feet. He seized the man by the front of his shirt and began peppering his face with lightning-fast punches.

"KF! What are you doing?!"

All his pent-up anger, his guilt, horror and helplessness made Wally see red. This guy had to pay for what he'd done to Robin!

"KF! KF, stop! Wally, stop! You'll kill him!"

Wally barely heard him over the sound of the blood roaring in his ears.

"KF, _please!_ "

The desperation in Robin's tone was what finally got through the fog in his brain and he froze, his fist hovering close to the man's mangled face. The guy seemed barely conscious, blood pouring from his obviously broken nose and numerous other wounds. Wally let go of the man abruptly, startled by his own loss of control.

"KF?" Robin prompted. "C'mon, untie me. We need to get out of here, okay?"

Wally stared at him for a few seconds before he managed to pull himself together. "Right, right."

As he reached for the ropes binding Robin's wrists and elbows to the remains of the chair, the sound of gunfire made them both jump. "Crap!" Wally exclaimed. "That sounded way too close!"

There was shouting and more gunfire and Wally made quick work of Robin's restraints, but before they had a chance to find out what was going on, the door burst open. Wally immediately made to charge at whoever came in, but Robin stopped him with a hand on his arm.

"Batman," Robin breathed.

Wally looked up at the dark silhouette now framed by the doorway and felt a flutter of relief. As he watched, however, Batman's face – what he could see of it anyway – transformed from inscrutable to enraged when he looked at Robin. For a terrifying moment Wally thought Batman was pissed off at _them_ but when he followed Batman's gaze and glanced at his friend he realized the top of Robin's suit was still hanging open and- okay. Yeah. Definitely not mad at _them_.

Robin's hands flew to the zipper, pulling it up quickly and refastening the clasps, but Batman was already moving towards the man cowering on the floor.

"Down the corridor to the left. The team will get you out," Batman growled as he swept past them.

"Batman?" Robin said, his voice soft, as if was afraid speaking louder would set the man off.

For a moment they locked gazes and something seemed to pass between them, but Wally couldn't tell what.

"Wait outside," Batman grunted, and turned back to the bastard on the floor. Wally stared as Batman loomed over the prone man, the lights in the room casting frightening shadows on the wall behind them.

Robin pulled on Wally's arm, dragging him towards the door. "C'mon."

Wally finally managed to tear his eyes away and followed Robin into the corridor, which was littered with unconscious bodies. They bumped into Superboy halfway down the corridor.

"Are you all right?" he asked, and Wally was surprised to see actual concern in his expression. Huh. Who knew Superboy's face was capable of showing emotions besides anger and displeasure?

"We're okay," Robin replied.

"You're bleeding," Superboy pointed out.

Robin rolled his eyes and wiped at the blood on his chin with his arm. "I've had worse. Can we go now?"

Superboy led them down several hallways and Wally realized they were in some kind of abandoned factory. When they emerged from the building, they found Artemis waiting for them. Superboy disappeared back inside. "You two okay?" Artemis asked, as she escorted them away from the building.

"Fine," Wally and Robin said simultaneously.

Artemis raised an eyebrow but didn't comment. "Wait here," she told them when they'd arrived at a copse of trees. "I'll be right back."

Robin sat down on the ground, leaning his back against one of the bigger trees. Wally joined him, careful not to touch him, and they sat there for a while, neither of them saying anything. Wally was hyperaware of every movement his friend made; how he drew his legs up and wrapped his arms around them and just seemed to stare ahead, lost in thought.

Wally was just pissed. At that blond bastard for touching Robin, but mostly at himself for letting it happen. Again. He should've been able to stop him. He'd sworn to himself he'd have Robin's back, that he'd never let anyone get their hands on Robin that way again and yet, here they were. _How_ could he have-

"KF, you okay?" Robin asked quietly.

Wally sputtered. "Am _I_ okay? Dude! I'm not the one that was- you know. Again…"

"Maybe not, but- I dunno, you sorta freaked out back there and you still seem a little…distraught."

Wally shrugged, avoiding Robin's gaze. He suddenly realized he'd unconsciously mirrored Robin's pose. "I just- I just don't get how this could've happened again. I mean, how this happened to _you_ and- and how I could've let it."

"What? Dude, you didn't _let_ anything happen. Walls, I know you. If you could've stopped what happened, you would have. This wasn't your fault."

Wally didn't respond.

"Dude," Robin said. "KF…Wally, look at me."

Reluctantly, Wally looked up and was surprised to find his friend looking back at him calmly. The difference between the way Robin was behaving now and his behavior in the aftermath of that horrific mission six months ago was huge; back then Robin had clearly been shell-shocked, upset and ashamed, but now Robin was making eye contact and he seemed perfectly calm. He was a little pale, but not white, nor was he shaking.

"Dude, how are you not falling apart after- after what that guy did?"

Robin shrugged. "As much as I hate to admit it, my sessions with Canary actually really helped. I mean, yeah, I did freak out when he started- started doing stuff, but I guess I was just better prepared this time. I know that what he did wasn't my fault. And after what happened the first time, you know, with- with those guys, Batman and I discussed what I should do if anything like that ever happened again. He said that if I couldn't control my initial response I should try to play up how much it was affecting me 'cause it would distract them and make them more likely to mess up."

"Well, it worked," Wally said. "Dude, you deserve an Oscar or something because wow, you really acted your heart out."

Robin gave him a small smile. "Thanks."

"By the way, how did you get your legs free?" Wally asked, remembering how one minute Robin's ankles had been tied to the chair and the next they'd been loose.

This time Robin's face broke into a grin. "Batman installed blades in the soles of my boots." He lifted one foot in demonstration and Wally watched as a small blade slowly slid out from the side of Robin's boot.

"Man, Batman's got the coolest gadgets!"

"Yup," Robin said, before growing serious. "Listen, Walls, maybe- maybe you should think about going to see Black Canary too."

"Nah, I'm good."

Robin rolled his eyes. "Uh-huh. Ever heard of denial? Look, I'm just saying it helped me, okay? Maybe it'll help you too."

"Right. I'll think about it," Wally said, and he meant it.

From a distance they heard the sound of approaching sirens and a few minutes later Artemis returned to lead them to where the team had parked the bioship. Aqualad, M'gann and Superboy were waiting for them, but as they drew nearer, a low rumble caught Wally's attention and he looked up to see a dark shape descending from the dark, clouded sky. Holy crap, was that the Batplane? Awesome!

Artemis, Robin and Wally joined the rest of the team as they waited for the plane to touch down. When Batman emerged he stalked towards them, stopping beside Robin.

"You did good work tonight," he addressed them. "Both in Blüdhaven and here. Return to Mount Justice and go home. We will debrief tomorrow. Robin will return to Gotham with me."

Robin barely had a chance to thank the team for the rescue before he was swept away by Batman, and Wally didn’t even get time to say goodbye. It left him feeling bereft somehow. Robin had seemed like he was coping with what happened pretty well, but sometimes it took a while for something to sink in, and, well, he just really, really hoped that this time it wouldn't be weeks before he saw or heard from his best friend again.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you're curious about Robin getting "kidnapped, beaten, shot and thrown over the side of a ship", it's from my story Devotion.


	5. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why, yes, it did take me over a month to write a thousand words *shakes head*. Sorry for the delay! This chapter marks the end of this little story. Thanks so much to everyone who was kind enough to leave a review, and an extra special thank you to Black Friar, who is the most incredible beta :)

**Epilogue**

Robin wrapped his arms around himself as he stood in the cramped space behind the Batwing's front seats, watching the bioship depart through the windshield.

Batman stood beside him. "Are you all right?" he asked, once the bioship had disappeared into the clouds.

Robin looked up at his mentor. "Yeah, I-" he broke off, trying to swallow a sudden lump in his throat. His hands were beginning to shake. "I'm-" he tried again, but his throat felt so tight he couldn't get the words out.

Batman pushed back his cowl and then Bruce was kneeling in front of him, gloved hands hovering close but not touching. "Dick, it's all right, you're safe."

 _I **know** that!_ Dick thought, but now his whole body was trembling and he didn't understand it. He'd been fine a minute ago!

"I- I don't know why- w-what's happening?" he managed to choke out.

"Your body's having a delayed stress reaction," Bruce said. "It's all right, Dick, just breathe."

 _Easier said than done_ , Dick thought, as he fought to keep from hyperventilating. He didn't register the hands on his arms until Bruce slowly and carefully pulled him into a hug. Dick clung to him, trying to make his body calm down.

He stood there for a while, shaking in Bruce's arms, trying to breathe through his nose. Gradually, the tremors began to subside and his breathing returned to normal. He pulled back a little, embarrassed.

"I'm sorry," Dick said, not looking at Bruce. "I-I don't know why I suddenly freaked out. I mean, I was fine before."

"Sometimes it takes your body a while to process what's happened," Bruce said. "It's similar to coming down from an adrenaline high; during times of extreme stress your body employs a protective mechanism, preventing you from reacting to the stress until it feels it's safe enough. It's a perfectly normal response to what you've just been through, Dick." Bruce reached out and tilted Dick's chin up, gently peeling off Dick's mask with his other hand. "Look at me, kiddo," Bruce said, and Dick reluctantly met his eyes. "You've got _nothing_ to be ashamed of or to be embarrassed about."

Dick managed a small smile, feeling marginally better but still wishing his body would get with the program already and realize that he was _fine_.

Bruce's expression remained serious. "Dick, I'm sorry, but I have to ask-"

"He didn't hurt me," Dick interrupted. Bruce raised a skeptical eyebrow, so Dick added, "I mean, he just slapped me around a little and tried to scare me into spilling the beans about you. Well, about Batman. He- he did assault me, I guess, but it was nowhere near as bad as- you know."

Bruce nodded and Dick saw the rage his guardian was trying to keep under control simmering in the brown eyes.

"We'll make a new appointment with Black Canary," Bruce said, his voice sounding more like Batman's than his own.

Dick sighed but didn't protest. His last session with Canary had been about two months ago and he'd been glad to be done with them. As much as he liked her and as much as their sessions had helped him, he'd just wanted to move on already. He was definitely in a better frame of mind now though, so maybe the one session would be enough.

"Ready to go home?" Bruce asked, standing up.

"More than ready."

Bruce pulled his cowl back on and they took their seats behind the controls. They were in the air a few minutes later.

"So where are we?" Dick asked after a while.

"Approximately an hour north of Gotham."

So they had a one-hour flight ahead. Awesome.

"How long were we missing?"

"About three hours."

Three hours? That wasn't very long at all. Then again, a lot could happen in three hours. "How did you guys find us so fast?"

"Miss Martian managed to apprehend one of your attackers as they were making their escape," Batman replied. "She searched his mind for your location."

Dick snorted. The guy hadn’t stood a chance. Speaking of…

"So…what did you do to that guy- Fairchild?"

"I turned him over to the police."

"Uh-huh. And what did you do to him before that?"

"I showed him the error of his ways." Batman paused. "He took some convincing."

"Right."

oOo

Later that night, Dick lay awake in bed, having trouble shutting his mind off. His brain kept wanting to replay the events of that day and if there was one thing he _didn't_ want to be doing, it was that. Especially not in the middle of the night. He didn't want to think about what might have happened if he hadn't been able to free himself and- _don't think about that!_

He needed a distraction, something to get his mind off of things… He was pretty sure Bruce or Alfred would notice if he went to the Batcave or the gym for a workout and they probably wouldn't approve, so that wasn't an option. School stuff? No. He needed to think about something fun, something he could look forward to. Bruce had some kind of charity event tomorrow, but maybe…

Dick grabbed his phone off the nightstand and fired off a text.

_Dude, wanna come over tomorrow? I got the new JL game the other day._

Dick blinked when his phone beeped in response a mere two seconds later. Wally usually slept like the dead; he hadn't expected a reply until noon tomorrow at the earliest, especially after the day they'd had. That meant that Wally was also having trouble sleeping. Or he might have just woken up to get himself a snack.

Dick grinned when he read Wally's text.

_The new JL? OMG, dude, I am **so** there! _

_Cool,_ Dick texted back. _I'll let u know what time, ok?_

Wally replied with a thumbs-up and Dick put his phone back on the nightstand with a smile. He burrowed back under the covers, turning onto his side. Monday he would have to talk about unpleasant stuff with Black Canary, but right now he could put his mind to work thinking up battle strategies.

He fell asleep in the middle of devising a plot to kick Wally's butt.

\- End - 


End file.
